In 2008, voters in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin
approved a one-quarter percent sales tax increase to build a
transportation network connecting those two counties. The project
is being coordinated by the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District
("SMART" District), and was originally planned to feature
a 70-mile passenger railroad along an existing Northern Pacific
Railroad right-of-way, with parallel pedestrian and bike paths,
stretching from the northern end of Sonoma County to the ferry
terminal at Larkspur in Marin County, where commuters catch the
Golden Gate Ferry into San Francisco. California sales tax revenues have fallen short of original
projections, however, and the SMART project now faces a shortfall
in required financing. SMART officials have elected nonetheless to
go ahead with their initial bond offering in June 2011, and focus
on an abridged, 37-mile version of the railway. The initial phase
of the project is scheduled to open in 2014, and will connect the
county seats of Sonoma and Marin Counties. The District announced that it will seek to sell approximately
$161 million in sales tax revenue bonds in June 2011, which will
provide less than the entirety of the proceeds needed for an
abridged version of the railway. The District is further
constrained by the 2029 expiration of the targeted sales tax, which
limits the maturity of the bonds to 18 years. SMART officials met recently to discuss further curtailments to
the project to accommodate the reduced revenues, which are expected
to include fewer passenger stations and the elimination of a
portion of the bike paths.
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,
Bruce J. Graham ,
Robert M. Haight, Jr. ,
R. Jeffrey Lyman ,
Edward Matson Sibble ,
Douglas A. Praw ,
Jung W. Han
Jessica M. Gill 
and
Lauren M. Borella .
Lower Sales Tax Revenues Can’t Stop The SMART Train
Goodwin Procter LLP
Contributor
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In 2008, voters in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin approved a one-quarter percent sales tax increase to build a transportation network connecting those two counties.